Abstract

This article uses food to examine the process of immigrant naturalization in the United States. It compares the experiences of Hispanic residents of the Southwest during the nineteenth century with that of Mexican migrants to the New York City in the late twentieth century. It shows how successive generations of new immigrants have used food to think in new ways about what it means to be legitimately American. It concludes that foods do not simply reflect legal and racial categorizations of citizenship but also they can contribute actively to migrants’ inclusion or exclusion.

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